Ondrej Palat was the game's second star. Palat has 5 goals and 13 points in his last 8 games. I believe that technically qualifies as "on fire". With Benoit Pouliot possibly hurt in today's game against Boston, I wonder if Palat might be worthy of some consideration for a cup of coffee.

Riku Helenius (pictured) stopped all 23 shots he faced for his 2nd shutout in the past 3 games and his 4th shutout of the season. He's allowed just 1 goal over the span of those 3 games. We've seen this before with Helenius, when he had a string of shutouts early in the season for JYP en route to backstopping them to a SM-liiga title. His save percentage is still just .891 for the season, and the Lightning just acquired Cedrick Desjardins for a reason, but when Riku starts getting on a roll like this, he can be unbelievable.

Riku Helenius (pictured) allowed 1 goal on 34 shots for the victory. His season save percentage is still languishing at .885, but he's only allowed 1 goal over his last 2 starts and has stopped 56 of 57 shots in that span. There's not a huge opening for Helenius, but with Tokarski gone, if he can take the #1 job in Syracuse and run with it for a great second half and a deep playoff run, he could set himself up to the NHL.

Connolly becomes the third Crunch player to hit 20 goals this season (Johnson and Panik). Dana Tyrell has 3 points in 3 games since being sent down to the AHL. After posting two straight multi-point games, Radko Gudas is just 3 points shy of his pro high in points. He's also 6 PIMs shy of his pro high in penalty minutes, too, for that matter.

Entering the night, Binghamton was tied for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, and Syracuse just smashed them after destroying Albany 6-0 on Wednesday night. Whatever voodoo potion Jon Cooper employed to not only weather all the call ups, the trade of his #1 goaltender, and the lineup shuffling, but to start annihilating teams in the midst of it all, he needs to Fedex a supply to Guy Boucher.

Riku Helenius allowed 4 goals on 14 shots for the loss before giving way to Dustin Tokarski, who allowed 2 on 12 shots the rest of the way. At some point you'd like one of your two championship pedigree goaltenders to step up and act like it and steal you a game rather than getting lit up like Roman candles.

This is the kind of embarassing loss where you'd expect Julien BriseBois to start looking to make some moves, now. The Crunch let some valuable veteran components like Segal, Smith, and Jackson walk over the offseason with the thought there was enough good youth to handle it. And, yes, there is a lot of good youth. But, in my mind, a piece needs to be added to, at the very least, try to fill some of what was lost between Conacher and now, possibly, Alex Killorn, to Tampa Bay.

The Syracuse Crunch forward, stationed just outside the Rochester Americans' crease, watched as the puck trickled away from a sprawling David Leggio.

"I was standing on the goal line and I tapped it in," Panik said.

With the game tied, the tide seemed to turn in the Crunch's favor.

But that feeling was brief.

Before the goal was finished being announced, Rochester retook the lead on a Rick Schofield goal. The Americans scored three more times before the Crunch could respond, as Syracuse fell 5-3 at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.

Richard Panik notched his 20th goal of the season in the defeat. Alex Killorn is tied with Jason Zucker of Houston for second in rookie scoring behind Justin Schultz, whose callup to Edmonton puts the Rookie of the Year award in play for Killorn.

Dustin Tokarski (pictured) allowed 3 goals on 18 shots before being kicked out of the game for leaving his crease to beat Eddie Pasquale like a drum. Key point: Eddie Pasquale is 6'3" 220 lbs. Tic is 6'0" 194 lbs. Didn't matter. Tic was like a rabid wolverine on its prey. He became a folk legend tonight. Oh, yeah, and Riku Helenius stopped all 15 shots he faced the rest of the way for the win (yawn).

Alex Killorn and Richard Panik were the game's first and second stars. Panik's game was his first back from a 3 game suspension, and he came out like an animal that's been caged up too long with 1 goal and 3 points to show for his night. The Panik attack has equalled his goal total from a season ago and the sky is the limit if he keeps playing like that. Killorn snapped a personal three game scoreless streak in style with 2 goals and 3 points, as the entire Syracuse team had a breakthrough.

This was a huge win for this team, after suffering through the post-lockout malaise. They're still not at full strength with Taormina still out, but getting Panik tonight and winning an emotional, brawl-filled game by blowing a team off the rink in the Third Period goes a long way toward rekindling the club's confidence. They've been slowly recalibrating the bomb sites despite the setbacks and frustrations of the past few games, and tonight St. John's (and Eddie Pasquale's face, for that matter) was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You can't really say anything other than, "It'll get better." Richard Panik will come off suspension, Taormina will get healthy, and this group will begin to settle into their new roles and get used to new on-ice combinations. But, it's going to hurt a bit over the next couple of weeks to get there. The team did outshoot Lake Erie tonight and it is showing signs of improvement. But, it takes time to build chemistry.